Meatworks layoffs a saviour for kiwifruit

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Early seasonal layoffs at Affco's Rangiuru meat plant may provide the crucial labour needed for the Te Puke kiwifruit industry as the annual harvest swings into top gear.

Work and Income and the Immigration Service had been poised to issue temporary work permits to overseas visitors this week to meet the demand for fruit pickers and packers to reap this year's bumper crop.

That may no longer be necessary. About 100 meatworkers on the lamb chain nightshift - the first to go - were stood down at the weekend and many are expected to take jobs in kiwifruit orchards and packhouses.

Peter Scott, meatworkers' union president at Rangiuru, near Te Puke, said yesterday that it was fortunate the laid-off workers had the horticulture employment to tide them over before the bobbycalf season started in six to eight weeks.

The plant shutdown was generally later in the year and did not usually coincide with the kiwifruit harvest.

Affco's Rangiuru manager, Kerry McCree, said any further layoffs depended on stock numbers in the next week or two.

"I wouldn't like to guess. We are working through this with livestock buyers and suppliers."

The company was also liaising closely with Work and Income, which had advised of kiwifruit industry vacancies. "Those interested can walk into jobs straight away."

About 480 people were employed at the Rangiuru plant, which normally closed for four to six weeks in September-October, depending on stock availability.

There was a core workforce, with extra people employed according to the "peaks and troughs" of the meat industry, he said.

Some of the workers laid off at the weekend would be needed back when the nightshift was reinstated in July.

Winz Bay of Plenty regional commissioner Carl Crafar said yesterday that meatworkers on their seasonal break would swell the numbers of people able to do kiwifruit work. That meant he would not have to "push the button" to initiate the standby 48-hour system for issuing temporary work permits for foreigner visitors.

The fast-track permits carry geographic, industry and time restrictions.

On Friday, before the Rangiuru layoffs, 200 Western Bay of Plenty unemployed people were available for kiwifruit work, Mr Crafar said. "We had just about exhausted what was available."

He said the region's strong economy had led to a 45 per cent drop in the number of registered unemployed this year.

Andrew Fenton, executive chairman of Te Puke co-operative Satara and vice-president of the Fruitgrowers' Federation, is quietly confident of getting through the season without a serious labour shortage.

He expects the harvest to be "full steam ahead" until next month.